Support: April 28, 2004

Archives

You dont hear much about it, but there are still pretty intense air operations going on over Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the missions currently flown are reconnaissance, but the bombers are still up there as well, waiting for someone to call for a smart bomb. Many of the air support missions are being flown by army or marine helicopter gunships. However, the most unsung aircraft operating up there are the tankers. In the last fifteen months, American and British aerial tankers have flown 16,000 sorties, refueling 52,000 aircraft with 154 million gallons of fuel.